Rio`S Presidente Rio de Janeiro

... us to the top of Sugarloaf (Pao de Acucuar), which has<br>amazing views over the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema, and north to<br>Flamengo and Botafogo, and also East to the city of Nitteroi which is<br>linked to Rio by a massive bridge that crosses the bay. Jesus had his<br>head in the clouds again unfortunately which also meant that there<br>wasn't much of a sunset.<br><br><br>Woke up to clear blue skies (finally!) on Saturday so decided we had to go and see ...

... mountain. I ended up going to the botanical gardens, and having an amazing day, anyway. The botanical gardens were built at the end of the 1800s, and are truly magnificent. The park was empty, and I got to wander around, exploring the gardens, and the small, but very excellent, aquarium. I started to explore all of the trails that circumnavigate the the gardens, and before I knew it, I was climbing up a very steep hill. Being the curious guy that ...

... travelling to Rio as a lady boy in search of work...ohhhh fuk my life. Eventually they let me through ...

... for a whileen just lookin out taking it all in. One other thing eventful has happened today and it was my first experience of attempting to hand wash my clothes in the hostel, they hav like this tiny area off the kitchen which I suppose they would call it their yard but I mean its like 3ft by 4ft! anyways there is a washing ure clothes style sink there, those of an older generation may no the type I´ve mever cn 1 before! So I was ...

... is portion size. This may be the only dishonest thing I've found so far! A dish for 2 is really for 4 and and a half portion could easily feed two. We read this ahead of time and it worked out well for us usually. The three of us feasted on this dish for "one" and with a salad included, that was plenty. Then we walked across Leblon to the Lagoa (lake) on the other side of this isthmus. We stopped for Acai (oss-eye-EE) at one of the ever-present fruit ...

... hectic! Trying to find our way into our sector was a nightare!! We finally got into our packed sector, just after the parade started. The atmosphere in this place is undescribable. This is where everyone- the rich, the poor, all races, come together to celebrate CARNAVAL!!! OMG it was AMAZING!! We danced and sang in portugese (god knows what we were saying) and watched this amazing parade! The costumes and floats were unbelievable. We cant count the amount of time ...

... up. had a really yummy lunch for 2 quid and wandered around the very few shops - there were some old records that i really want although bit pointless as havent got a record player! Walked back home down a dodgy street but made it through ok. just played cheat for an hour or so and wist, hearts....not much else to do when raining again! Went out in the evening to a cachaca ...

... It helped to see roughly what we had ahead of us.<br><br> <br><br>We tried to catch another thermal to lift us upwards for a few minutes and then headed out over the high-rise hotels, over the beach and then out over the sea. <br><br>Here's another one of Katie from her onboard camera ...